How to Get Past Exercise Excuses

It's the most fattening time of the year and many of us will make a New Year's resolution to lose weight. Many of us will also have the best intentions to work out seven days a week, miss one day and quit forever. Here are a few ways to get around those excuses and find success.

The most common excuse for not exercising is "I don't have time". Even with our busy schedules, there's time. I told this to myself time and time again and then I thought about how much time I spend watching TV or being on Facebook and then I thought, "OK. If you spend a half an hour on Facebook and an hour watching TV, that's 90 minutes of your life that you're not going to get back, unless you get off the couch and start doing something productive." It was then that I got back to running. It's a great stress buster and I felt great afterward, so even if you say you're too tired to do some sort of physical activity, running always gave me more energy, so when I came back from running, I'd throw in a load of clothes, take a shower, throw the clothes in the dryer and then made dinner. I exercised, got one chore done and got dinner on the table. The key here is to not stop moving after you're done with work.

Some of my friends think that because they have kids they can't exercise. Kids have endless amounts of energy, so bring them with you. Have them ride their bike or their big wheel. If they're into sports, go to the park and do an impromptu home run derby or walk around the baseball diamond or soccer field during the game.

I always thought that exercise was boring because it is. If you're on a machine. Exercise can be fun if you pick a fun way to work out. Kick boxing is awesome, so is swimming. Swimming is one of my favorite activities. I'm also not a great dancer, but jazzercise is fun and can teach you some new moves. If you have a treadmill or elliptical, put on some headphones and listen to a book on tape, or grab a magazine and do a little light reading to keep your mind off of what you're doing.

Even after you read all of this and think "I'm just going to quit anyway", please don't. The main thing here is to not bite off more than you can chew, if you will. Start with smaller goals that you know you can reach. Even if it's five pounds a month. Find a friend with similar goals and work out with them. You keep each other accountable and misery loves company.